Hard and Soft Water

Consumer research about hard water

One fifth of UK adults surveyed had no idea
if they lived in a hard water area or not

 

As experts in water, BWT conducted some consumer research to lift the lid on the real­i­ties of living with hard water and to bring you some need-​to-know facts.

Firstly, if you live in Ipswich you’re the unlucky ones. Local water authority data shows the Suffolk town has harder water than any other in the UK. Hard water is measured by the quan­ti­ties of calcium carbonate, a key mineral compo­nent of hard water and is stated in Parts Per Million (ppm) or as the same value in Milligrams per Litre mg/l.

• Ipswich has 423 milligrams per litre of calcium carbonate, 44 milligrams more than Colch­ester, the second highest hard water town
• The top five hard water towns include Luton (360 mg/l), Norwich (359 mg/l) and Watford (358 mg/l)

Our find­ings showed one third of Brits have expe­ri­enced limescale damage to their home appli­ances and features, such as showers, washing machines, taps and pipes. Kettles come off worst with 80% of us having noticed the effect of water on this kitchen essen­tial.

Inter­est­ingly, more than a quarter believe their mains water has had a detri­mental impact on their skin, 28% thinks its effecting their hair and 14% thinks it is ageing their skin, making it look older.

These impacts are felt so strongly that a fifth of us buy prod­ucts, such as creams and lotions, espe­cially to coun­teract the effect of hard water on our skin and hair, which costs an average of £218.76 per year.

We use water a lot. In fact, in the UK we:

• will boil the kettle 82,095 times during the average adult life­time, and use the washing machine 5,224 times
• have an average of 15,458 showers and 3,567 baths during our adult years

But this usage takes its toll if you live in a hard water area as our research also found limescale damage on appli­ances cost an average of £311.87 in repairs in the last five years.

Tellingly, the research of 2,000 UK adults high­lighted that one fifth have no idea if they live in a hard water area or not.

_{*Source: The research was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of BWT surveying 2,000 UK residents. Carried out online August 2017. Calcium Carbonate levels for postcode towns was gathered via local water authority websites 8th – 14th August 2017}

Top 20 hard water areas in the UK

 

	Place:	Calcium carbonate levels ppm or mg/l:
1	Ipswich	423
2	Colchester	379
3	Luton	360
4	Norwich	359
5	Watford	358
6	Stevenage	355
7	Swindon	343
8	Harrow	335
9	Hemel Hempstead	333
10	St Albans	323
11	Reading	323
12	Cambridge	322
13	Dartford	315
14	Hull	313
15	Bath	312
16	Bromley	311
17	Milton Keynes	309
18	Canterbury	308
19	Slough	303
20	Portsmouth	296

10 Facts about Hard Water

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hard Water

1. Ipswich has the highest levels of calcium carbonate in its water
2. More deter­gent and condi­tioner is needed to get your clothes clean and soft
3. House­hold appli­ances will become damaged and less effi­cient as scale deposits build up from the water
4. It can damage hair colour and cause dye to fade more quickly
5. Soap scum can build up on your skin, blocking your pores and making mois­turisers less effec­tive
6. Hard water may make your skin age faster and look older than it is; the minerals in hard water can strip mois­ture from your skin whilst preventing the natural oils in your body from doing their job
7. Elements in hard water such as iron and calcium, can form free radi­cals that may damage healthy skin cells and cause a break­down of collagen, leading to fine lines and wrin­kles
8. Even a 1.6mm coating of limescale on a heating element in the heating system can make it up to 12 per cent less effec­tive
9. More cleaners are needed to remove scale and water stains left behind by hard water. Over time these cleaners damage glass and chrome
10.  Hard water can make your shower less powerful as it clogs up the shower head with mineral deposits